WW1 & WW2 GROUP TOURS OUR SPECIALITY

We take the hassle out and put the history in!

Scottish War Blinded Veterans participated in a group tour of the Normandy battlefields in September 2016. Thanks to the work of Ecosse Battlefield Tour guides, the tour proved a great success. Ecosse sought information on those travelling and carried out research about our D Day veterans and their regiments. They were able to tailor the tour to ensure our members were able to get the most out of their experience.

Jim Thomson, Centre Manager, Linburn Centre, Wilkieston

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Ecosse Battlefield Tours for all their help in making our Western Front Battlefield Tour totally unforgettable for the band. I am so glad that the Royal British Legion Scotland recommended you. The support offered to the band during the visits to the various cemeteries and battlefields was so helpful. There are so many memories that we took away with us, of what I think is now being classed as the "best" trip the band have had.

Lynne Fraser, Secretary, Ballater & District Pipe Band.

I fully recommend Ecosse Battlefield Tours as they lay on bespoke to tours to suit your particular needs. The guides and staff are both friendly and very knowledgeable and very helpful. From stepping on the coach to returning you are well looked after.

Let us organise your group battlefield tour an enjoy and exciting historical journey of remembrance and discovery

Ecosse Battlefield Tours is a Scottish based company conducting school and group tours direct from Scotland to the WW1 & WW2 battlefields.

Visit the memorials, war graves and battlefields of the fallen of both wars.

Make a pilgrimage to the Somme, which today is a place of great beauty and tranquillity, a million miles removed from the horrors of the Great War.

Visit the fields of Flanders, in which lie the remains of soldiers from more than 30 nations. Some five million British and Commonwealth soldiers passed through the town of Ypres on their way to the battlefields. The Ypres Salient was the infamous bloodbath that saw three major battles.

Around Arras, this area of France is sometimes known as the 'forgotten battlefields' yet it is here on the Arras front that has over 150 British cemeteries, which bear testament to the huge losses. It is also here that you can see some of the most stunning, picturesque, memorials and villages along with the town of Arras itself. Arras is the historic centre of the Artois region with its two famous squares and two world heritage sites - the Citadel and the belfry of Arras.

We can also organise group and school tours to the D-Day beaches of Normandy, Arnhem in the Netherlands, Verdun, the Meuse-Argonne and the St. Mihiel Salient.

THE SOMME AND FLANDERS

Ecosse Battlefield Tours will take you on an unforgettable journey into the fields of Flanders, to the picturesque rampart town of Ypres, the underground tunnels of Arras and to the beautiful, rolling landscapes of the Somme. You can be assured that we will do everything we can to make your battlefield tour a truly memorable one.

NORMANDY

D-Day 6th June 1944 - Operation Overlord and 'Coast of Heroes'. Awesome and inspiring, the beautiful Normandy seascapes and landscapes are simply breathtaking. See the most poignant and interesting sites of the famous landings and the efforts to break out from the beach head. It is a feast for your eyes and senses - an emotional and educational experience for young and old alike.

VERDUN

Among all the battlefields of the Great War, the largest is world-famous - Verdun. The battle was so fierce that it became the mother of all the great battles in the 20th century. Some village and hilltops were just blown away forever. Fought over 300 days and 300 nights with no let up in fighting, there were more than 300,000 dead and missing, 400,000 wounded. To truly understand the profound horror of the Great War and understand the sacrifice of, a visit to Verdun is a must.

ARNHEM AND OPERATION MARKET GARDEN

In the autumn of 1944 a land and air offensive from the border with Belgium to the towns of Nijmegen and Arnhem via Eindhoven, was mounted by allied troops to recover territory from the German occupying forces and to seize the bridges across the river.

The Netherlands was expected to be liberated within a matter of a few months, after which the troops were planning to advance towards the Ruhr area and Berlin. However, not everything went to plan.

The advance along 'Hell's Highway', the road from Son to Grave was more difficult than the Allied had anticipated. Despite one of the largest airborne landings ever - near Arnhem, Groesbeek and Eindhoven - the German defence proved to be formidable. Although Nijmegen was liberated on September 20th, 1944, the town remained in the frontline.

On September 25th 1944, Operation Market Garden faltered during the devastating Battle for Arnhem, causing many casualties and leaving the town in ruins. Hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers lived in miserable circumstances for months, until the liberation on May 5th 1945.

I enjoyed the trip so much I was sad to see it come to an end. I will be coming back for more...

The quality and range of sites is extraordinary; from museum pieces and memorials to graveyards, underground networks and trenches... you travel with a small, friendly company...

My wife and I have recently returned from a tour of the WW1 battlefields. We both really enjoyed the experience. Our guide, Evelyn McKechnie, was excellent in all respects. She had facts and figures at her fingertips and was able to inform the group of all relevant and interesting points of the tour...